E-Mail: Redirecting ECN Mail to a Non-ECN Address

Redirecting to Your @purdue.edu Address

If you want to receive your ECN Mail at your @purdue.edu address instead of your @ecn.purdue.edu address, you need to edit your directory information. Read the directions on the Purdue Directory website for Setting the "Service" Field. When you set your service field to "store", all of your Purdue e-mail accounts, including ECN, will redirect to your @purdue.edu account. Please note, if you use your @purdue.edu account as your primary e-mail address, you will not be able to use ECN's e-mail services such as SpamAssassin, and you will need to get technical assistance from ITaP and not ECN.

Redirecting to a Non-Purdue Address

To automatically redirect your mail to a non-Purdue address, you must create a .forward file in your ECN home directory.

When a mail message is sent to you, sendmail checks for a .forward file, owned by you, in your home directory, and with universal read access. In this file are the addresses to which your mail is to be automatically forwarded.

In your home directory, using your favorite text editor, create a file named .forward.

In this file will be a line which contains your username and forwarding address. Make sure your username is the same username that your forwarding address recognizes as you, and also make sure you type your address exactly as it should be. If you type in an invalid address, your mail will be returned to the sender. Your file should look similar to this:

jruser@cs.stanford.edu

jruser is your username on the host cs.stanford.edu. This will forward YOUR mail to "jruser@cs.stanford.edu" - so you better have an account on the host "cs.stanford.edu" with the login name of "jruser".

Exit your editor and save the file.

It will take effect immediately.

DO NOT use a ~/.forward file to forward mail between ECN machines. This will cause a loop resulting in your mail being returned to the sender. Use the mailbox command instead.